Matt Hancock: Watch former Health Secretary give evidence to Covid inquiry here

The ex-minister’s evidence is expected to take up the whole of Thursday’s sitting hours following repeated criticism made against him by a number of other witnesses.

You can watch a live stream of the inquiry and Mr Hancock’s evidence as it happens in the video above.

It comes as it was announced former Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to give evidence to the inquiry on Wednesday and Thursday next week.

The inquiry heard that in one WhatsApp exchange with the permanent secretary at Number 10 Simon Case – who is the current Cabinet Secretary – Lord Sedwill joked it was necessary to remove Mr Hancock to “save lives and protect the NHS”.

Earlier this week, Andy Burnham told the inquiry the former health secretary knew Tier 3 restrictions would not work when he imposed them on Greater Manchester.

The mayor accused the Government of administering a “punishment beating” for the city in late 2020, following an argument over financial support for residents who were unable to work due to the restrictions.

Quoting from written evidence from Mr Hancock, Mr Burnham said: “He says in his evidence about Tier 3, ‘I was in despair that we had announced a policy that we knew would not work.’”

WhatsApp messages shared with the inquiry also revealed that former top Number 10 adviser Dominic Cummings repeatedly pushed Boris Johnson to fire the former minister.

At one stage, Mr Cummings claimed Mr Hancock had “lied his way through this and killed people and dozens and dozens of people have seen it”.

Helen MacNamara, who served as deputy cabinet secretary, also claimed in her evidence that Mr Hancock displayed “nuclear levels” of overconfidence and a pattern of reassuring colleagues the pandemic was being dealt with in ways that were not true.

Sir Christopher Wormald, a senior civil servant in the Department of Health, suggested it was a “very small number of people” claiming that the minister was “actually telling untruths”.

But he added that there were a lot who thought he was “overoptimistic” and “overpromised” on what could be delivered.

Mr Hancock will have an opportunity to defend himself when he gives evidence.

A spokesperson for Mr Hancock said: “Mr Hancock has supported the inquiry throughout and will respond to all questions when he gives his evidence.”

Meanwhile, the inquiry confirmed former prime minister Mr Johnson will give evidence over two days next week.

He will appear on Wednesday and Thursday and is expected to face detailed questioning of the way his No 10 operation ran, following a series of criticisms from witnesses – not least his former top adviser Mr Cummings.